While evidence suggests that adoptees do not differ from non-adoptees in their ability to achieve a stable sense of identity, much is still unknown about how specifically the fact of being adopted affects one's identity. The purpose of this research is to take a deeper look at the significance and meaning of being adopted to one's sense of identity through qualitative analyses of in depth interviews with adoptees. Participants were recruited from Psychology classes via the SONA system. The participants (N = 16) took part in an in-depth structured interview and completed a survey battery which included a demographic questionnaire, the Ego Identity Process Questionnaire, the Identity Distress Survey, and the Brief Symptom Index-18. Interviews were transcribed, analyzed, and coded for emerging themes using thematic analysis. The themes and their effect on adopted individuals' identity is discussed with multiple case examples.

Distress tolerance is often defined as one’s ability to tolerate and withstand negative and/or uncomfortable emotional states (Simons & Gaher, 2005; Zvolensky et al., 2001). However, after nearly two decades of research, there is still no consensus on how to best conceptualize and measure distress tolerance. A historical account of the conceptualization and measurement of distress tolerance demonstrates that the distress tolerance literature may have missed a crucial step in theory development: obtaining a thorough understanding of the concept in question (Dubin, 1969). Without adequately addressing this important step in theory development, it is likely that continued efforts to research distress tolerance will ultimately fail to progress science in a meaningful way. Thus, the goal of this study was to conduct an in-depth, mixed methods investigation into how individuals define key terms used in self-report measures of distress tolerance: “distress” and “upset,” and what (if any) intraindividual or domain-specific differences they report. Thematic analysis showed no consensus on participants’ understandings of the key terms—a finding that poses deep questions regarding its potential utility to advance knowledge in the field of psychopathology. The thematic analysis revealed important intraindividual differences in distress tolerance that can aid in future investigation.

Recently scholars involved in narrative analysis seem to have overlooked the role of the narrator and overemphasized that of the readers. They even have different perspectives on the identification of the readers. Whoever the reader is, they place an omnipotent ability onto the reader as the master of interpreting the biblical narratives so that the reader maintains an unchanged position in this field but the narrator loses his/her effect. Such a tendency becomes more problematic in dealing with biblical characterization. With this problem in mind, the principal objective of this dissertation is to demonstrate the dynamic relationship between the narrative themes and characters created by the Lukan narrator rather than the reader in the Infancy Narrative. This study considers the narrator as the main entity who creates the narrative themes, especially in relation to the narrative characters, and presents a model of narrative analysis which has been formalized for the study of the Luke's thematic characterization in the Infancy Narrative (Luke 1-2). The main question of the dissertation is two-fold: 1) how does the narrator characterize his characters for the sake of his narrative themes?; 2) What is the thematic function of the Infancy Narrative in the Lukan Gospel in relation to the narrator's thematization of the characters? In order to answer this question, this study suggests three steps for analyzing the narrative. One is to define the types of characters (on-stage: front ground, foreground, and background; and off-stage: setting and potential), another is to determine narrative themes based upon three dimensions (textual, intertextual, and extratextual), and the other is to observe thematic relations between the characters in the Infancy Narrative and the following parts of the Lukan Gospel. With these steps, this study defmes all characters of the Infancy Narrative and evaluates their thematic roles, and the narrator's themes conveyed by his characters. Lastly, after examining the thematic coherence through narrative characters in the Gospel, this dissertation attests that the Infancy Narrative is a well-designed thematic introduction of the Gospel which establishes the major themes of the Gospel, conveyed by the divine characters (God, the Holy Spirit, and the angel), John, Jesus, and others. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

PHARMAC, the Pharmaceutical Management Agency, manages the Pharmaceutical Schedule on behalf of the Government. The Agency is tasked with securing the best health outcomes that are reasonably achievable from pharmaceutical treatment and from within the amount of funding provided (§ 47 NZPHD Act, 2000). The Agency reports that it continues to improve New Zealanders’ access to funded medicines. In determining which pharmaceuticals to fund, PHARMAC’s Operating Policies and Procedures (OPPs) state that nine criteria guide its decision- making. The OPPs further state that PHARMAC can apply whatever weight it sees fit to the application of these criteria. I undertook a thematic analysis of 20 cases referred by PHARMAC’s principal medical advisory body, the Pharmacology and Therapeutic Advisory Committee (PTAC), to PHARMAC during the period February 2004 to November 2006 to determine whether these criteria were acknowledged in the official minutes of the respective bodies. PTAC is similarly required to take account of the abiding decision criteria. I also sought to determine whether other factors were apparent in guiding the decisions. There was evidence that PHARMAC consistently applied the decision criteria. PTAC was less assiduous in recording its application. In addition, I found that PHARMAC takes account of factors outside the stated criteria. I noted that PHARMAC takes particular account of the degree to which a decision might be publicly, politically or medically contentious in its decision-making. I also found evidence that consistency with prior decisions is another factor which PHARMAC takes into account, though does not apply routinely. This research indicates that PHARMAC does take account of its abiding decision criteria, applying health needs as well as fiscal criteria, though the weighting given each criterion is nowhere apparent in its official minutes. There remains an opportunity for evaluative research to determine whether fiscal considerations ‘outweigh’ needs considerations in PHARMACs decision-making.

AIDS Saskatoon (AS), a non-profit organization, has limited funding. Most of the funding and resources for the organization go into service provision and education/prevention activities, leaving little time for strategic planning. Essentially, organizational knowledge exists at an individual level, which causes concern in terms of sustainability, continuity, evaluation, raising funding, writing research proposals, and staff training. AS operations are largely based on tacit knowledge, or knowledge that resides within individuals, and little of it is explicit knowledge, or knowledge that can be examined by and shared with others. This problem yields the following research question: How does AIDS Saskatoon convert their tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge? This research study examines AS tacit knowledge and represents it in an explicit format with the combination of thematic analysis and an organizational model. <p>A Participatory Action Research (PAR) method is employed to gather and analyze qualitative data. The thematic analysis reveals the mental models and beliefs that are taken for granted at AS and therefore no longer articulated among the participants but simply a part of their daily practice. A metaphorical model of AS, using Nonakas theory of knowledge creation as a theoretical basis, is presented to convey some of the tacit knowledge that cannot be captured in words. <p>AS has had some challenges in their explicit knowledge documentation. This research takes one piece of their tacit knowledge and represents it explicitly through themes and image: themes articulated tacit knowledge at AS in an explicit format, and the organizational model framed the knowledge by using metaphor. <p>An important implication of this research for the larger body of knowledge management literature is that the overarching concepts in Nonakas theory of knowledge creation were applicable for a community-based organization, where most Knowledge Management literature has focused on for-profit contexts.

AIDS Saskatoon (AS), a non-profit organization, has limited funding. Most of the funding and resources for the organization go into service provision and education/prevention activities, leaving little time for strategic planning. Essentially, organizational knowledge exists at an individual level, which causes concern in terms of sustainability, continuity, evaluation, raising funding, writing research proposals, and staff training. AS operations are largely based on tacit knowledge, or knowledge that resides within individuals, and little of it is explicit knowledge, or knowledge that can be examined by and shared with others. This problem yields the following research question: How does AIDS Saskatoon convert their tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge? This research study examines AS tacit knowledge and represents it in an explicit format with the combination of thematic analysis and an organizational model. <p>A Participatory Action Research (PAR) method is employed to gather and analyze qualitative data. The thematic analysis reveals the mental models and beliefs that are taken for granted at AS and therefore no longer articulated among the participants but simply a part of their daily practice. A metaphorical model of AS, using Nonakas theory of knowledge creation as a theoretical basis, is presented to convey some of the tacit knowledge that cannot be captured in words. <p>AS has had some challenges in their explicit knowledge documentation. This research takes one piece of their tacit knowledge and represents it explicitly through themes and image: themes articulated tacit knowledge at AS in an explicit format, and the organizational model framed the knowledge by using metaphor. <p>An important implication of this research for the larger body of knowledge management literature is that the overarching concepts in Nonakas theory of knowledge creation were applicable for a community-based organization, where most Knowledge Management literature has focused on for-profit contexts.

PHARMAC, the Pharmaceutical Management Agency, manages the Pharmaceutical Schedule on behalf of the Government. The Agency is tasked with securing the best health outcomes that are reasonably achievable from pharmaceutical treatment and from within the amount of funding provided (§ 47 NZPHD Act, 2000). The Agency reports that it continues to improve New Zealanders’ access to funded medicines. In determining which pharmaceuticals to fund, PHARMAC’s Operating Policies and Procedures (OPPs) state that nine criteria guide its decision- making. The OPPs further state that PHARMAC can apply whatever weight it sees fit to the application of these criteria. I undertook a thematic analysis of 20 cases referred by PHARMAC’s principal medical advisory body, the Pharmacology and Therapeutic Advisory Committee (PTAC), to PHARMAC during the period February 2004 to November 2006 to determine whether these criteria were acknowledged in the official minutes of the respective bodies. PTAC is similarly required to take account of the abiding decision criteria. I also sought to determine whether other factors were apparent in guiding the decisions. There was evidence that PHARMAC consistently applied the decision criteria. PTAC was less assiduous in recording its application. In addition, I found that PHARMAC takes account of factors outside the stated criteria. I noted that PHARMAC takes particular account of the degree to which a decision might be publicly, politically or medically contentious in its decision-making. I also found evidence that consistency with prior decisions is another factor which PHARMAC takes into account, though does not apply routinely. This research indicates that PHARMAC does take account of its abiding decision criteria, applying health needs as well as fiscal criteria, though the weighting given each criterion is nowhere apparent in its official minutes. There remains an opportunity for evaluative research to determine whether fiscal considerations ‘outweigh’ needs considerations in PHARMACs decision-making.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [193]-203).

Thesis (M.A.)--Marshall University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 22 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 21-22).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Psychology, Committee on Human Development, December 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.